The full-page newspaper advertisement from Tenneco Inc. brimmed with
pride. As its contribution to the Reagan Administration's arms buildup,
the company announced that it had delivered not one but two potent new neclear-powered
warships to the U.S. Navy in a single day: the 93,000-ton aircraft carrier Carl
Vinson and the 6,900-ton attack submarine Atlanta. Proclaimed the ads' headline:
MISTER PRESIDENT, WE HAVE BEGUN.

With a combined price tag of $1.63 billion, the cost of the two vesels is relatively cheap
compared with the more then $1.6 trillion in defense spending...